NEW YORK (CNNfn) - After the closing bell Wednesday, online advertising firm 24/7 Media and business-to-business (B2B) company Internet Capital Group both announced partial layoffs, and medical-device maker Becton Dickinson said it expects 10 percent profit growth for 2001.
In addition, digital animation studio Pixar raised its earnings-per-share estimate to $1.45 from $1.30 for the fiscal year 2000, after reporting better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.
On the economic front Thursday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended Nov. 4. The report measures the number of filings for state jobless benefits on a weekly basis.
The government agency will also release the Producer Price Index (PPI) for the month of October. The monthly report measures prices of goods at the wholesale level, and producer prices are expected to be weak at all stages of production in October, according to analysts at Bear Stearns.
24/7 Media Inc.
The online advertising firm announced it would trim over 200 jobs by year-end in a move to accelerate profitability, and forecast slower growth in the fourth quarter.
24/7 Media (TFSM: Research, Estimates) said its pro forma net loss in the third quarter, excluding items, widened to $22.5 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with a pro forma net loss of $7.4 million, or 35 cents a share, a year ago.
Wall Street had expected the company to post a loss, excluding goodwill, of 47 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.
Revenues nearly doubled to $48.1 million from a year earlier.
Becton Dickinson
The medical-device maker posted a 10 percent increase in its fourth-quarter profits and set similar profit growth goals for 2001.
Becton Dickinson (BDX: Research, Estimates) announced net income of $84 million, or 32 cents per share in the period, after items. Excluding those items, Becton said it earned 39 cents a share, compared with a profit of $76.3 million, or 29 cents per share a year ago.
Analysts lowered their estimate to 39 cents from 46 cents per share after the Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based firm trimmed 4 percent of its work force and warned on its fourth-quarter earnings in October.
Becton Dickinson, the nation's largest maker of syringes through its medical systems segment, said revenue in the latest quarter rose 2 percent to $920 million.
Internet Capital Group
The online B2B company announced its plans to cut its staff by 35 percent and take a fourth-quarter charge of $25 million to $30 million in a move to strengthen its financial position.
Internet Capital (ICGE: Research, Estimates) reported a third-quarter loss of $263.9 million, or 94 cents per share. The Wayne, Pa.-based company said it plans to move its Japan- and Europe-based operations into separate entities that will seek external financing and in which the company will continue to hold a substantial stake.
The company posted a loss of $15.3 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago, and there was no consensus estimate for the latest quarter, according First Call.
 
-- compiled by staff writer Joseph Lee
|
